Most web pages include document elements, such as graphic images, of various sizes. When viewed in a browser window, lower portions of these document elements are often cut off, i.e., “cropped,” at the bottom of the display. When the traditional “page down” button is pressed, or a page down operation is requested by another method, the page display is advanced by bringing the bottom of the previously displayed document element section to the top of the browser display window. If the document element is cropped at the bottom, this may then result in an upper portion of the document element being cropped at the top. In order to view the full document element, the user must manually manipulate the currently-displayed section of the web page to bring the full image into the display window. Thus, a need exists for improved paging, particularly since web browsing is now so frequently done with small-screen computerized devices such as personal digital assistants and cell phones.
Referring now to FIG. 1, in which paging is illustrated according to the prior art, on the left-hand side a web page 150 is illustrated. Web page 150 includes a succession of document elements, such as graphic images, of various sizes, four of which are shown, that is, document elements 1 through 4. On the right-hand side of the figure are shown three instances of a window 115 of a display 110 on a display device 105. In the illustration, the window 115 is shown filling nearly the entire display 110, but it should be understood that the window 115 may be much smaller, and that a number of windows can be open at one time on the display 110.
As the terms are used herein, display 110 is a physical portion of the display device 105 and has a fixed size, whereas the window 115 is a logical element of a size that the user may change. Each of the instances illustrates a respective position of the window 115 in which a portion of web page 150 is displayed. A computer program (not shown), such as a web browser in connection with an operating system, generates window 115. The program pages window 115 through web page 150, responsive to user commands from an input device (not shown) such as a mouse or keyboard. A touch screen and key pad are also common input devices for personal digital assistants which have relatively small displays.
Window 115 has a vertical page bar 120 since the vertical length of web page 150 exceeds that of the window 115. If the horizontal width of web page 150 were to exceed the horizontal width of window 115, then window 115 would also have a horizontal page bar. The one or more page bars provide means to page window 115 through web page 150 by clicking in page bar 120 below the current location of page bar 120 using an input device. Other page down methods include depressing a “page down” key or button and hitting a space bar.
In FIG. 1 the three instances shown are for three successive positions of window 115, where window 115 has been moved down using the “page down” key. Conventionally, when the user pages down through web page 150, display 110 is advanced by bringing the bottom of the previously displayed page section to the top of browser window 115. Each successive position begins at the last line of the previous position. That is, each position moves down by the amount of the vertical length of window 115. Referring now to the right side of FIG. 1, paging down from position 1 results in document element 40, being partially displayed in position 2 with the top section cropped off. Paging down from position 2 results in the top and bottom sections of document element 40 being cropped off. In order to view the full document element (such as a photo image), a manual manipulation of the currently-displayed section of web page 150 must be done to bring the full image into window 115.